The New York Timesreported on the health problems faced by residents in the Upton-Druid Heights neighborhood of West Baltimore, the scene of recent unrest in Maryland's largest city.

The New York Times reported that, "...residents die from nearly every major disease at substantially higher rates than the city as a whole — nearly double the rate from heart disease, more than double the rate from prostate cancer, and triple the rate from AIDS. Life expectancy here is just 68 years, one notch above Pakistan." In addition, the area suffers from higher rates of asthma, lead paint poisoning and drug addiction.

Bishop Douglas Miles, the pastor at Koinonia Baptist Church in Northeast Baltimore, told the New York Times, “If the statistics that are present in these communities were present in any white community in Baltimore, it would be declared a state of emergency. Health disparities loom as a giant lurking in the shadows. They never get talked about.”